350cals over 3lbs on. Grrrrr

Breizier
Breizier Posts: 221 Member
I know weight loss isnt linear but please can someone explain how this works?
I try to eat back any exercise cals or if I go over 1 day I balance it the next. I know generally I am a little under my cal goal on a week to week basis.
But how on earth can I go over my goal 1 day and put on 3lbs? Somewhere the equivalent of 10, 500 cals have gone into me over night. Unless my hubby is force feeding me in my sleep I am darned if I know how that happened because I sure didnt get to enjoy those calories.
So please peeps all you guys who know about the laws of thermodynamics fitness an nutrition please please please give me an explanation for this unwelcome and demotivating phenomenon. :cry:
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Replies

  • kazzsjourney
    kazzsjourney Posts: 674 Member
    Your diary isnt open to give you a real valid answer. But I would think its water retention...so from either eating something high in sodium, or hormones etc or just normal body fluctuations
  • SmartAlec03211988
    SmartAlec03211988 Posts: 1,896 Member
    Water retention.
  • SoViLicious
    SoViLicious Posts: 2,633 Member
    Your weight fluctuates daily due to retaining water.
  • tonytoo
    tonytoo Posts: 307
    Be patient. Give it 4 days and it will disappear just as mysteriously.
  • kbeech06
    kbeech06 Posts: 328 Member
    LOL...probably water weight! I went away on holiday last week and couldn't log as I had no internet access. I behaved as much as I could while still enjoying myself. I came home and got on the scale not knowing what to expect. 7 pounds....:noway: I knew there was NO WAY I had put that on. So back on to MFP and logging....it was all gone in a matter of 5 days. So just as I know there was no way of putting on 7 pounds of fat (with what I was eating) in a week....I also knew there was no way I had lost 7 pounds of fat in 5 days.
    Don't freak...the scales go up and the scales go down. As long as over time it heads more downwards than anything, you'll be fine!
  • I looked at your diary and it doesn't seem to be logging much sodium for the items on your list. There's no sodium listed for the potato salad. Salt is a huge reason people "mysteriously" gain weight over night. Drink extra water through the day and flush it out of your system. Make sure you don't let yourself get dehydrated because that's another way to ensure that you'll just retain water. Good luck!
  • CyberEd312
    CyberEd312 Posts: 3,536 Member
    Nothing but straight up water retention.... I had a refeed last night of chips and salsa, regular pizza and taco pizza, and finished the evening off with ice cream.... If I even thought about stepping on the scale I would more than likely be up anywhere from 5-10 lbs. do to the product of the excess sodium but my calories are figured on the week (which for me ends on Sunday evening and I will still be in a slight deficit by then so this Water weight will take a few days to clear my system and then everything will be back to normal...
  • Breizier
    Breizier Posts: 221 Member
    Diary now opened. Thanks for looking at it.
  • WalkingMermaid_
    WalkingMermaid_ Posts: 205 Member
    It's got be water weight. Depending on the time of the month, that could have an unwanted effect too. Don't worry about it too much, as someone said - give it a few days and I'm betting those lbs will have vanished...
  • Breizier
    Breizier Posts: 221 Member
    Hmmmm interesting.

    For the first time I have proactively put things in place to drink more water. Thursday an Friday I drank 1.5ltrs water each day and this is the first time I have experiences a leap like that withou the memory of pizza chocolate or alcohol to justify it. And given the extra time on the loo!!! Including during the night!
    So do I just keep drinking water or just go back to my 3 or 4 half cups of coffee a day??
  • RM10003
    RM10003 Posts: 316 Member
    I am not a scientist, but my understanding is that if you keep drinking water, your body will flush it through better (ie, if you've just started drinking a lot, it'll hold it, but if you keep on drinking it'll let it go). 1.5 liters really isn't all that much so I'd stick with it.
  • susannamarie
    susannamarie Posts: 2,148 Member
    Retaining water won't stop you from losing fat (which is what matters, right?)
  • lauraleighsm
    lauraleighsm Posts: 167
    I hate that and it does happen to me! I've even joked to my husband before how I can gain 3 pounds in a night. It's salt and it takes a few days to even out.
  • Erihppas
    Erihppas Posts: 121 Member
    Stay the course...
  • butterflyqueen1984
    butterflyqueen1984 Posts: 141 Member
    This is why I don't weigh myself every day, forget about the daily and weigh every 2 weeks. Keeps you motivated as you are sure to loose if you are sticking to it!
  • CrazyTrackLady
    CrazyTrackLady Posts: 1,337 Member
    Nothing but straight up water retention.... I had a refeed last night of chips and salsa, regular pizza and taco pizza, and finished the evening off with ice cream.... If I even thought about stepping on the scale I would more than likely be up anywhere from 5-10 lbs. do to the product of the excess sodium but my calories are figured on the week (which for me ends on Sunday evening and I will still be in a slight deficit by then so this Water weight will take a few days to clear my system and then everything will be back to normal...

    Help me to understand what a "refeed" is...because it sounds close to a binge, and I know you are too disciplined to be a binge eater.
  • goodtimezzzz
    goodtimezzzz Posts: 640 Member
    I lost 7 pounds in a day and I gained 9 in a day..its all fun! remember the body can only lose up to 2 lbs of FAT in about 6 weeks..its all ABOUT WATER WEIGHT!! This is the KEY:)
  • beachlover317
    beachlover317 Posts: 2,848 Member
    Stop weighing yourself. Maybe once a month. Next, measure and weigh all your food. Track your exercise with a HRM and be religious about it. The scale is going to be too fickle to really help at this point. Measure yourself every 2 - 3 weeks and take pictures of all angles every month. Drink lots of water and eat enough food to fuel your body correctly. Know your TDEE, BMR, & TDEG.

    If you do those things, you will see progress. Getting on the scale can undo my whole day. Therefore, I only weigh once a month.
  • 257_Lag
    257_Lag Posts: 1,249 Member
    A little visualization goes a long way. Here is my recent chart. The RED line is the only thing that really matters but it shows the normal daily fluctuations. Most of those peaks I can explain with a high sodium day or a hard workout but not all of them.

    libra.jpg
  • beachlover317
    beachlover317 Posts: 2,848 Member
    A little visualization goes a long way. Here is my recent chart. The RED line is the only thing that really matters but it shows the normal daily fluctuations. Most of those peaks I can explain with a high sodium day or a hard workout but not all of them.

    libra.jpg

    That is an awesome visual. You should post that every time someone asks a question like this. Of course, you'd be very busy every day. :laugh: Thanks.
  • CyberEd312
    CyberEd312 Posts: 3,536 Member
    Nothing but straight up water retention.... I had a refeed last night of chips and salsa, regular pizza and taco pizza, and finished the evening off with ice cream.... If I even thought about stepping on the scale I would more than likely be up anywhere from 5-10 lbs. do to the product of the excess sodium but my calories are figured on the week (which for me ends on Sunday evening and I will still be in a slight deficit by then so this Water weight will take a few days to clear my system and then everything will be back to normal...

    Help me to understand what a "refeed" is...because it sounds close to a binge, and I know you are too disciplined to be a binge eater.

    I base my caloric intake on the overall week and currently i am eating at maintenance so once a week, i have what i call a refeed... I eat a normal (for me) breakfast and then combine my lunch and supper (so normally eat around 3 or 4 pm.) I am maintaining at a 4000 calorie a day average (for the past 8 months) but I will bank 250 calories a day (x 7 days = 1750 calories) so on that refeed day, normally Saturday.. I will eat my normal 4000 calories and the saved (6 days @ 250 = 1500) for a caloric intake of 5500... and this has always been anything I want ( I am in the camp of no food is off limits so if it fits it is fair game) I prefer pizza (who wouldn't lol), so that is my normal refeed meal.. followed by a stop at the Ice cream stand... The rest of the week I eat on point to hit my macro's and stay pretty disciplined... I spent the past 4 years (in therapy) learning how to change my relationship with food. I now control it and it doesn't control me... I have been maintaining at 248-250 for the past 8 months, I may try to make a run at 235 lbs. at some point (I will never go lower than that, I feel really good at 250 and who wouldn't after weighing 560 lbs. lol) but after being in a caloric deficit for a little over 3 years and losing 312 lbs. it is nice to take a break from weight loss for a bit.... Hope that helps...
  • SideSteel
    SideSteel Posts: 11,068 Member
    the body can only lose up to 2 lbs of FAT in about 6 weeks

    Where did you come up with this figure? And how on earth can you believe it to be true regardless of an individuals total fat stores?
  • oskybosky4
    oskybosky4 Posts: 62
    Hi, thanks for this post, I did the same thing - gained 4 lb overnight. 3 days later its not all gone but the scales are going down, then I will be back to what I was 2 weeks ago. I had no idea how the body can gain this amount of weight overnight - but I guess it must be water retention as other posters have said. It does feel discouraging though.
  • hungryhobbit1
    hungryhobbit1 Posts: 259 Member
    I looked at your diary. Great job staying close to your calorie goal, but that's not the whole story. Do you log your fruits and vegetables? Because I didn't see very many. In addition to water, you also need fiber to keep things running smoothly. Your body will also function better if you give it all of the nutrients it needs. Some days I see that you eat two packets of soup at lunch but have no sodium listed for either, this probably put you over the recommended amount of sodium per day, in one meal.

    A 3 lb gain over night is probably water retention, but you'll feel so much better if you get some fruits and veggies going and watch your sodium intake a little.

    Edited to say: OK, I take that back. I went back and looked further and saw that normally you do eat a fair amount of fruits and veggies. But you did have a couple of days there with a lot of sodium and cheese and not much vegetable material and well... that'll do it! I'm sure everything will sort itself out in a few days. ;-)
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    I know weight loss isnt linear but please can someone explain how this works?
    I try to eat back any exercise cals or if I go over 1 day I balance it the next. I know generally I am a little under my cal goal on a week to week basis.
    But how on earth can I go over my goal 1 day and put on 3lbs? Somewhere the equivalent of 10, 500 cals have gone into me over night. Unless my hubby is force feeding me in my sleep I am darned if I know how that happened because I sure didnt get to enjoy those calories.
    So please peeps all you guys who know about the laws of thermodynamics fitness an nutrition please please please give me an explanation for this unwelcome and demotivating phenomenon. :cry:

    Water....plain and simple. Most people have natural daily fluctuations of 2-5 Lbs due to water retention/release, food in/out, waste, etc. If you understand the science behind this...and you say that you do with the 10,500 calories being 3 Lbs then why are you getting yourself so worked up?

    Perhaps you should not weigh yourself daily if you do not understand natural weight fluctuations and can't handle seeing them. I actually under ate yesterday and I'm up 4 Lbs...'cuz I did have a killer workout and I'm sore as heck and my muscles are retaining all kinds of water for repair. Doesn't bother me because I know what it is....and it's normal.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    Hmmmm interesting.

    For the first time I have proactively put things in place to drink more water. Thursday an Friday I drank 1.5ltrs water each day and this is the first time I have experiences a leap like that withou the memory of pizza chocolate or alcohol to justify it. And given the extra time on the loo!!! Including during the night!
    So do I just keep drinking water or just go back to my 3 or 4 half cups of coffee a day??

    Why are you worried about water weight? It's water...worry about fat, that's what matters...I mean really, who says, "whoa...better lay off the water there..." That's right, nobody. And actually, the more water you drink the less you retain, not the other way around.
  • BrainyBurro
    BrainyBurro Posts: 6,129 Member
    I lost 7 pounds in a day and I gained 9 in a day..its all fun! remember the body can only lose up to 2 lbs of FAT in about 6 weeks..its all ABOUT WATER WEIGHT!! This is the KEY:)

    that's complete and utter nonsense. there are many people on here who have lost 100lbs in a year without huge amounts of LBM loss. if you're arguing that it takes 6 weeks to lose 2lbs of fat, then those folks only lost ~17lbs of fat. lets say they lost an equal amount of muscle during that timeframe... that would leave the remainder of ~66lbs to be water by your argument. that's about 8 gallons of water.

    that's complete baloney.

    why are you here? it's clearly not to pass along accurate information to anybody. your profile implies that you are selling something. i sure hope nobody from here gets duped into buying whatever it is you are selling because it will be a waste of their hard earned money.
  • Breizier
    Breizier Posts: 221 Member
    Stop weighing yourself. Maybe once a month. Next, measure and weigh all your food. Track your exercise with a HRM and be religious about it. The scale is going to be too fickle to really help at this point. Measure yourself every 2 - 3 weeks and take pictures of all angles every month. Drink lots of water and eat enough food to fuel your body correctly. Know your TDEE, BMR, & TDEG.

    If you do those things, you will see progress. Getting on the scale can undo my whole day. Therefore, I only weigh once a month.

    Congratuations on the weight loss. Its really impressive.

    I couldn't live without weighting myself daily. the fluctuations don't bother me but leaps like this one do. So far the daily weigh in has kept me on track but I have to understand what is going on with my body. Now I know this is just getting used to drinking water, I can cope with it.
  • Breizier
    Breizier Posts: 221 Member
    I know weight loss isnt linear but please can someone explain how this works?
    I try to eat back any exercise cals or if I go over 1 day I balance it the next. I know generally I am a little under my cal goal on a week to week basis.
    But how on earth can I go over my goal 1 day and put on 3lbs? Somewhere the equivalent of 10, 500 cals have gone into me over night. Unless my hubby is force feeding me in my sleep I am darned if I know how that happened because I sure didnt get to enjoy those calories.
    So please peeps all you guys who know about the laws of thermodynamics fitness an nutrition please please please give me an explanation for this unwelcome and demotivating phenomenon. :cry:

    Water....plain and simple. Most people have natural daily fluctuations of 2-5 Lbs due to water retention/release, food in/out, waste, etc. If you understand the science behind this...and you say that you do with the 10,500 calories being 3 Lbs then why are you getting yourself so worked up?

    Perhaps you should not weigh yourself daily if you do not understand natural weight fluctuations and can't handle seeing them. I actually under ate yesterday and I'm up 4 Lbs...'cuz I did have a killer workout and I'm sore as heck and my muscles are retaining all kinds of water for repair. Doesn't bother me because I know what it is....and it's normal.

    I am used to a 1lb fluctuation very occasionally 2. I have never seen a 3lb fluctuation like that hence the question.
  • Breizier
    Breizier Posts: 221 Member
    A little visualization goes a long way. Here is my recent chart. The RED line is the only thing that really matters but it shows the normal daily fluctuations. Most of those peaks I can explain with a high sodium day or a hard workout but not all of them.

    libra.jpg

    Thanks for this. It was useful to see someone else's pattern.